Reading, writing and other creative stuff

How to make your out of office email more interesting

Out of office emails are pretty cliché. It’s always ‘I’m on annual leave until [date]’ or ‘I have limited access to my emails’. And companies seem to use the same few templates.

So how do you make your email more interesting? You could get your reader to feel sympathy for you, make a pop culture reference, or be honest. Really honest.

Here are five examples for your inspiration.

The empathy generator

Poor Stevan. He got snowed in, and can’t come to the office. He’s even made his email personal by including a photo of himself shovelling snow, and used sarcasm. The latter is something we can relate to as humans.

The anti-climax

You send an email and get a response straight away. Only to learn it’s not a relevant response, but one of the clichés I mentioned above. This example mocks that anti-climatic feeling you get.

The pop culture reference

For this one to work, you have to be sure the thing you’re referencing has lots of mainstream appeal. In this example, I can’t help but hear Simpsons character Troy McClure’s voice.

The riddle

I have to applaud the writer of this email for asking their reader to take action.

Honesty

This writer doesn’t care about office etiquette, which makes their email stand out from the millions of others.